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A decade after the project was first envisioned, a big expansion of the public landing in the midcoast village of Port Clyde will finally have its grand opening on June 12.
The town of St. George, like many communities along Maine’s coast, has lost much of its working space for fishing and other water-dependent industries. Its once-thriving seafood processing factories have closed, and the number of working docks has fallen from six to two.
The idea for the renovation of the Port Clyde Landing came a decade ago, in 2015, when St. George purchased the land adjacent to the original landing out of recognition that waterfront property was getting more scarce. In 2018, residents voted to allot $2.6 million for the project.
Now, the midcoast town’s landing renovation is almost done, and it should help to preserve what remains of the town’s accessible waterfront. The project will nearly double the existing wharf space at the landing — which has been in use since the 1960s — and give it an expected lifespan of 75 years.
According to St. George Town Manager Brandon Leppanen, the landing will offer two sides: a commercial side where fishermen can get a permit to access the water and sell their catch, and a recreational side where locals and tourists can fish, enjoy the waterfront and spend time at the attached park.
The goal, Leppanen said, is to preserve the waterfront for Port Clyde’s future generations. He added that the measure to begin the project was narrowly approved by the community at the time, but is now seeing overwhelming support.
“If we want this town to feel like it always has, to preserve what has been so special, we need to do some work to prepare for the future,” Leppanen said.
The landing will also have 42 parking spots, divided between commercial parking, four-hour parking and all-day parking.
The June 12 grand opening ceremony will have food, music, and remarks by the people who have been involved in the landing project. Leppanen said the ceremony will celebrate the people who have put in the work to renovate the site, mainly the volunteers on the town harbor committee who have planned and organized the project over the last several years.
“The harbor committee has been involved from the very first step of sending a letter to inquire about purchasing the property, to overseeing all the details of design, and so on. So to oversee a project of that scale, in a volunteer capacity, is pretty remarkable,” Leppanen said.
The town isn’t done with its work in Port Clyde, though. After a 2023 fire ravaged the businesses on the shorefront, the town is still working on rebuilding. Leppanen added that the town also wants to improve the safety of Cold Storage Road, which leads to the landing. The town’s resilience committee has accepted proposals to renovate the road and is reviewing them now, Leppanen said.
